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I realize I have not been updating like I should be, and I am sorry for that. Things have been busy, but not always in the fun busy way, more like work a lot and then feel lazy and irritated the rest of the time.

Last week I got to serve drinks at one of the receptions for the gallery I intern at, which meant tips (Hipsters tip super well!) and getting to meet lots of cool people. Every time I meet people in LA, I am totally renewed that this is where I want to be, and forget that the high cost of everything is sucking me dry.

So this is my last week in Los Angeles. I will be sad to see it go, but I really do look forward to being back home and with my friends and family and in my normal life (no more dual state living). My poor car has taken a beating, put about 7,000 miles on it in the summer alone I think. I have learned a lot here and can’t wait to put it all into perspective at home.

I will go into more detail later about what I have learned, but for now I have no time to waste. There are a lot of things I haven’t done in Los Angeles yet!

I feel rather inspired today. Last night was my first gig at the gallery. New jobs (paid or unpaid) or always awkward and nerve-racking. It was a small event, a studio sale, not that many people came in, but I got to meet the artists, which is always a highlight. Jarrod Jacobus, Shannon Rowland,Courtney Reid, and Airom were the artists in the first summer studio sales series at the Bleicher/Golightly gallery in Santa Monica. I enjoyed the atmosphere, the experience of observing the artists and the art dealings, and being in a new environment. I didn’t do much on my first night, but I still feel that I walked away with more knowledge then before.

You know, I may have pulled off the biggest scam ever. Ok, it’s not a scam. But I have successfully taken almost 2 months off of work without being on vacation or being sick. I’m not getting paid, so it is coming at the cost of my financial security, but I am trying to be an optimist here. I mean who else can say they’ve done that, and been able to keep their job. It’s not a bad deal when you think about it.

So last night was my favorite every-other-Monday-free-comedy-show: Brunch Comedy at the Park Restaurant. Hosted by the cat adoring Jake Wesiman, the show always includes a few newcomers, a few seasoned professionals, some in between, but always a great show. Last night, the first performer burped onto the microphone, then proceeded to go on about how disgusting his burp was and how he felt bad for the next guy up there. Ok, maybe you had to be there to find that one funny, but I was in stitches. I forgot his name unfortunately. My other favorite of the night was Rob Gleeson. Adorable. There was also a guy wearing corduroys that played the guitar, with ironic glasses; an accidental hipster of sorts: Nick Thune. Also now in love with him. I always have mini celeb crushes on comedians; they make me laugh, what’s not to fall in love with? I highly encourage anyone in the Los Angeles area to go the next “other-Monday.”

And now I leave you with random thoughts of the day:

Ever type a word, screw it up, decide you don’t want to use it anymore and delete it instead of retyping it or spell checking it, then realize there’s no better word, and retype the word anyway? I do…

I think I had a few more, but I got distracted by Thought Catalog, as I usually am. Read that article. It is literally the story of my life. No one has ever put it into better words, and I applaud Caitlin Van Horn for doing it SO well. Seriously, I am now grinning on the inside because of how much joy that just gave me.

I get to start working at a gallery! Not only that, but a super fun gallery in Santa Monica on Ocean (overlooking the ocean). It’s another unpaid internship, but I am happy to have the opportunity to work and get the experience in the field that I most desire to work in. But that is a win for me to keep busy while I’m here, stuffing my resume and learning all I can. It’s hard to believe that I am actually over halfway through my time in LA. Kind of sad when I think about it. But at the same time, I do want to get back to regular life. It does seem that things started looking a little brighter today; I also sold a couple prints on Etsy today. Yay! It’s not much, but every little bit helps. I may still be broke, but I am not broken. I will find a way to make my dreams come true, if it’s the last thing I ever do.

Last movie I watched: It might have been I.O.U.S.A., but I didn’t get to finish before Netflix had to be canceled.

Recent project to take on: learning Virtual DJ.

But on to more important things! Even though I was technically in Pheonix during my beloved First Friday, I missed it in lieu of hanging out with friends in Tempe for my birthday. Which was awesome, to say the least. So last night I resumed my art opening adventures in San Pedro, which is 30 miles south of Westwood, where I’m staying. So a hop, skip, and a 405 trip later I arrive in a lovely little downtown block of a suburb. This First Thursday (I think it was called) was small and intimate, reminded me of the Phoenix art scene a bit, with smaller more independent galleries. The first gallery I went in had a twist on Southwestern art though, *sigh*. I can never escape those damn Kokopellis. If you don’t know what those are, then you are not from the Southwest.

They would be more enjoyable if they weren't so overdone in the Southwest!

The gallery did, however, have this awesome hanging lamp sculpture. The thing about this art walk, was that the galleries didn’t have cards or anything really that I could take so I could remember the artists or even the name of the galleries. That was kind of diminishing. There was in one gallery/arcade/dub-step clothing shop (?) these really creative window panes with photo prints in them. Again, I wish they had been labeled, because I have no idea who the artist was. Onward ho, I shuffled through some other galleries and a few open studios with a few things catching my eye, an abstract artist that had a style that resembled street art. Another one had a cool print making style, unfortunately I didn’t write down his name, since I think his art was actually labeled. Oh how I love it when they have cards to put out.

Also a feature of this art walk was food trucks. I finally got to eat at my first food truck in California; I was so excited. We picked the Nom Nom truck because my roomie had heard great things.

Delicious!

And finally, the actual reason we drove 30 miles for an art walk that didn’t offer much in my preferred scene, was because my roomie met an artist on the bus ride to San Francisco last weekend and he had a painting in one of the galleries. And arguably, his was better than the rest of what I saw. Also this new gallery, slightly off to the side of the mini row of galleries, had a showing of art that I felt had more to offer in the realm of creativity. Maybe it was hipster art, but I like hipsters. HUDSON|LINC also, unlike the place that served warm white wine (bitter beer face), served cold PBR. Hipster-tastic. So the name of this show was “Social Being” and involved art that worked itself around the social media and online presence that has taken over our society; it included a portrait of Tom from Myspace done in those circular beads that we used to iron one side of in the 90’s to make craft art projects as children. The painting by Steven Wolkoffwas actually a new concept to me. I hadn’t ever seen anything that involved the paint squiggles like he uses. And despite that abstract art doesn’t tickle my fancy like it used to, this one had me. Maybe it’s because the title is “The Names of all My Facebook Friends (Blue Squiggles #12)” which automatically forces you to start searching out names. There are quite a few so it makes it hard to find any. Most fascinating is the amount of time it must take to let each layer dry; more patient than I.

Little paint squiggles all over. Layers of them.

I think that concludes this edition of my Los Angeles art adventure, or I should say San Pedro. Hopefully I will get to attend some more fun things this weekend. Enjoy!

That’s how my inspiration has been lately. One minute I feel like conquering the world and trying new projects, the next, all I can think about is how things are not going as planned and I want to scream. Or crawl into the fetal position and declare defeat. Seeing as to how I share a room with 2 people, questions might be raised. And there’s nothing worse than having to explain the irrationality of your depression/anxiety/stress/insanity.

What I could be doing is telling you about my great birthday weekend and home visit. But essentially nothing extraordinary happened. Just friends, family, food, and I got a red Wii. Wheee!

I’ve been going to a free comedy show while I’ve been in LA, Brunch Comedy at the Park Restaurant in Echo Park. It’s my favorite part of every other Monday; I’ve seen some great acts. Like who I am now in love with: Rory Scovel and Kyle Kanine. They are hilarious. I’ve always been a fan of stand up, but live stand up is way better then Comedy Central. The swearing isn’t bleeped. All this comedy makes me really wish I could be a comedian. Sure I’m hilarious to myself, but the standing up in front of people is frightening. But like I said, inspiration is here today and gone tomorrow.

Well that’s enough of my random babble. Enjoy the comics up top, they give me quite the chuckle. Have a jolly week.

LA has sucked me dry. I have no more money left. (With 2 flat tires in a month, 2 parking tickets, and the cost of a 60 mile daily commute, I’d say this has been some shitty luck.) I caved and applied for more student loans. Further perpetuating the American dream and culture of spending money we don’t have, but I’m not one to let lower middle class-ness get in the way of my education. I would love nothing better right now then to have an income, or at least make pocket change selling prints on Etsy. But alas.

So this week I have had Ramen noodles, rice, easy mac, microwave popcorn, and Chef Boyardee. Oh and egg in the hole. This may seem like the typical lazy junk diet (and it kind of is) but I am broke, and these are the cheapest foods possible. Even bananas cost more here ($0.25 a piece, What?!) It’s kind of funny when I think about where I should be at nearly 25. I probably never thought I would be eating ramen out of necessity and not pleasure HA! Also didn’t expect to be in college still, but everyone has a different way of doing things. So without the beloved spice collection back home in Tempe, I have to be rather creative about flavoring things so I’m not eating the same thing every day. So I present to you the vital 3 seasonings: ranch (good ranch, like Hidden Valley), garlic powder or garlic salt, and hot sauce (any will do). And butter is good too.

See? These are just a few ideas. Who says cheap food has to taste cheap? Oh, that’s right, normal people. And those with money… and cooking skills. What I lack in skills I make up for in creativity.

While I wrote this I watched a seriously emotional episode of Without a Trace. So time to move on to something that brings me joy: new cameras that I can’t have! I have discovered lomography, analogue film cameras. While it was something I had wanted to go back and try again, I have now discovered a camera that takes such beautiful images with random uncontrollable effects that I have been creating with photoshop and other editing software. The whole reason I left film was that I had a whole roll of film come back from Wal-Mart with only like 5 photos coming out, and they couldn’t tell me what happened to the rest. So i decided I wanted digital, so I could be in charge of the images. And it pretty much became the only way to shoot, 21st century and all. The digital age has it drawbacks though. My newly inspired photography hobby has spawned me looking at other types of cameras, and this is one I LOVE.

I wantz.

Someone buy me?;)

I think that’s all for now. Tomorrow I drive back to AZ for my birthday weekend, my dreaded return to work (assuming I still have a job), and general business to take care of. I can’t wait to see my boy and my baby (Otherwise known as boyfriend and puppy), hang out with friends and see family. And have a place to park. The 117 degree heat? Not really happy about that part. Here’s to still not being ready to go after I said I was going to get ready and go to bed early.

Peace.

In true Wookie fashion, here's a pic to leave you with. Walking to Venice Beach.